


Where It All Began

by Mustang_Girl16



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Clint Feels, F/M, Falling In Love, Laura is a saint
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 06:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8962378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mustang_Girl16/pseuds/Mustang_Girl16
Summary: While at a get together in Avengers Towner, Clint tells the story of he met, fell in love with, and almost lost Laura. (Relax I'm not going to almost killer her. I'm not that mean.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I'm well aware this is now my fourth chapter fic. I don't care. I've been fighting off a cold so sorry about the updates and lack there of. I'm trying sorry. Anyway I couldn't get this out of my head. I hope you guys like it!  
> Disclaimer: Characters are Marvel's.

It had been six months since Ultron, six months since Steve and Natasha took over as co-leaders of the New Avengers, and six months since Baby Nathaniel was born. It had also been six months since the Avengers had all been in one place. So of course leave it to Tony to make sure they all got together. To his surprise everyone showed up, Thor, Jane, Darcy, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Maria, the New Avengers, and Clint and Laura. It had taken some coaxing to get Clint and Laura to come up to New York for a weekend, well it was mainly Clint who had his reservations. Even after Tony had told him and Laura they could bring the “small agents”, it wasn’t until Tony threatened to just show up at the farm that Clint agreed.

After the kids had gone to bed they all started to really catch up. It was surprising how much things had changed over the course of the last six months. Apparently after Sokovia, Bruce decided to go see Betty, who was more than thrilled to see him again, and they finally were able to patch things up; Maria was helping Colson with the New Shield; Thor was loving living in Midgard and finally learned how to use his cell phone; Tony had proposed to Pepper and in typical Stark fashion it was elegantly planed and slightly over the top. Which is what led to their current topic of discussion.

“Dude, fireworks really?” Sam asked, as he stared at the billionaire sitting in front of him.

“It wouldn’t be Tony if it hadn’t been a little much.” Pepper said as she sat down next to her fiancé. Everyone laughed because she was right, she was always right.

“I am offended.” Tony grabbed his chest in mock hurt. “None of you have the right to judge since nobody else here has planned a proposal before so ha!”

“Um, but are Lord Clint and Lady Laura not married?” asked Thor as he gestured to the couple on the love seat.

“Tony how many times do we have to go over this before you believe Laura is actually Clint’s wife and those “small agents” are his children?” Natasha glared at Tony making him burry himself in the couch more.

“Alright, fine. Clint how did you propose to Laura then?” Tony looked pointedly over at the archer and his wife. Laura looked over at her husband with an amused grin on her face.

“Well, heh.” Clint scratched his head as he looked down at his beer.

“Go on.” Laura nudged, “Tell them how you asked me.”

“Oh if we’re going to being hearing the proposal, we may as well hear the entire story.” Darcy said while taking another sip of her margarita. Natasha started laughing as she looked over at Clint and Laura.

“Ok. You guys want to know how we met.” Everyone mused in agreement. “If I tell you will you stop referring to my kids as ‘small agents’?” Clint looked towards Tony as the man threw his a hands out in a gesture for Clint to continue.

“Alright, so it all started back when I first joined SHIELD I-”

“Wait! Is this going to be a long story? Because if so, I need to make more drinks and use the bathroom.” Darcy chimed in.

“Oh! She’s right. We’re going to need popcorn.” Natasha said as she looked to Steve. He just rolled his eyes at her and hoped over the back of the couch to make the popcorn as everyone looked at her with raised eyebrows. “What? He makes surprisingly good popcorn.”

“Ooo, do we have any Twizzlers left?” Wanda asked

“Can you put a lot of butter on the popcorn?” Natasha looked back at Steve with a smile on her face.

“You and butter.” Steve commented as the popcorn started popping.

“Hey Darce do we still gave any s’mores pop tarts?” Jane chimed in.

“Yeah, here catch!” Thor caught the flying box of pop tarts and handed them to Jane.

Once Darcy and Steve were settled back in their seats and all the dinks, popcorn and other snacks were dished out Clint started again.

“As I was saying,” Clint paused a moment, to ensure everyone was content. “It all started back when I first joined SHIELD…”


	2. An Agent of Some Kind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint recounts his first impressions of Laura.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Ok so, Laura's one of few in MCU whose background really has no ties to the comics. I looked and she was in maybe two and then well wasn't. She has no background other than she met Clint around the time he joined SHIELD and they have three kids. Other than that there really isn't anything. That said, I'm taking a chance with this and in my take, Tony might not have been to far off with his first impression of Laura in AoU. Also, I have no idea why I feel like Laura has a background in nursing. Her temperament to me seems to fit that of a nurse. She can read people and is very compassionate from what I could gather and those are great tools to have when being a nurse. I don't know tell me what you guys think! I love hearing your feedback.   
> Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my movies, not my comic books. Did I miss anything? Marvel you are lucky people.

“It was the mid-nineties when I was recruited by Colson. He found me in a jail cell outside of Vegas. He somehow knew more about me than even I did. Knew my history with the Swordsman, about the day he went to prison and when I started freelancing. He gave me a choice: Go to prison for the rest of my life or come work for SHIELD. Said my talents could be of use to them. I was twenty-four, my life was a wreck, I was hitting rock bottom at that point and he promised me a second chance, a way back to the top, so I took it. I didn’t know what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect what happened…”

_December 1995 SHIELD Facility_

_Location Unknown_

“Barton.” Clint looked up from the punching bag in front of him to find Agent Phil Colson walking towards him.

“Sir.”

“I’ve got a mission for you.” Colson motioned for him to follow. The two men headed down the hallway and into the elevator.

“Agent Philip Colson, Level 7. Agent Clinton Barton, Level 1.” The computer scanned the two men as Colson gave the floor number.

“Does it have to do that every time someone enters the elevator? Can’t it just say yes or no?” Colson looked at his new recruit. He was hungover, as usual, his cloths were crumpled, face unshaven and he needed a haircut. It had been a rough year for the kid, this was definitely one hell of an adjustment, and he still had a long way to go. There was just something about him though that made Colson believe in him.

“So what’s this mission anyway? You want me to take someone out? Retrieve a stolen object?” The doors slid open and the two men stepped out. Colson led Clint down the hallway to a conference room where a women with dark brown hair streaked with red was waiting for them.

“Agent Barton, meet Agent Victoria Hand.” Clint shook the women’s hand giving her a tight lipped smile.

“Agent Barton, welcome to SHIELD. It is my understanding that you seem to be excelling despite our reservations.” Hand looked Clint up and down, and then at Colson, with raised eyebrows.

“Thank you.” Clint replied. He looked at Hand himself trying to get a read on her.

“Don’t thank me yet. Normally under these circumstances you wouldn’t even be an agent yet, but given you skill set, my boss seems to think you’re ready.”

“Ready for what exactly? Colson said he had a mission for me.” Clint looked wearily at the woman. Her face stayed neutral, giving away nothing.

“Yes we do have a mission for you. Meet doctor Julian Winters, he is a brilliant surgeon with ties to-”

“Yeah I’ve heard of him. He’s one of those concierge type doctors. Got ties to the mafia, gangs, corrupt politicians. Rumors had it that he had it in with some scary ass people.” Agent Hand glared daggers at Clint. He probably overstepped his bounds, but why rehash what he already knew.

“As I was saying Agent,” Hand warned, turning back towards the screen, as it filled with surveillance photos and dossiers. “We’ve had our eyes on Dr. Winters for a few years now. He himself is dirty, but his clients even more so. His records hold details about his clients such as transaction histories, family history, places of residents, and much more that could aid us in taking down certain individuals.”

“So, you want me, to steal this information from him?” Agent Hand smirked at Clint.

“No. What we want you to do is provide surveillance and a means of extraction.” Hand clarified. Clint looked at her then at Colson in confusion.

“What? Look I could be in and out in no time. Nobody would even know I was there and I wouldn’t need an extraction team.” Clint was not happy about this at all. His talents were so far being put to waist.

“We understand that, but we already have another Agent for the job. What this is, is a long term mission that you have the clearance to know about, but not to take part in, other than surveillance and extraction.”

“So you want me to be a getaway driver?”

“While you can steel this information, we have a chance to learn more about the doctor’s dealings.” Hand was losing her patients with the new agent, so Colson intervened.

“This is what all new agents do. They play the ‘getaway driver’ and do surveillance. You have to work your way up. But don’t think you wasting your talents because trust me you aren’t. You’ve got a good pair of eyes and keen senses. These will be needed for this mission. Hand can you pull up the information on Agent Cromwell?” Agent Hand pulled up the other agent’s information or well their photo, level of clearance and area of specialties.

“Laura Cromwell, Level 3. Med Bay. She’s a nurse. Let me get this straight.” Clint looked back at Colson and Hand, hand pointing towards the screen. “You’re sending in a nurse, with no training, but you won’t send me in?” _Really?_ Clint was offended.

“While she may be a nurse she does have some training. SHIELD wouldn’t have hired her without giving her some training.” Colson said.

“Everyone who works for us is classified as an agent, even those who work in Med Bay. Agent Cromwell has been an agent for a few years and has proven to be excellent at what she does. She is a trauma nurse as well as surgical. She is one of few that can work under pressure and in high stakes situations. While being a field agent would be more ideal, the part would not sell. We needed someone who has the knowledge as well as experience in the medical field and we unfortunately have only a handful who can do both.” Agent Hand handed Clint a file containing the mission parameters as well as Agent Cromwell’s cover story.

“Agent Cromwell has limited to no experience in the field. She has been stationed on one of our Heli-carrier’s, on and off, for the past two years and has worked on site on few missions after extraction. What we need you to do is guide her in gaining the trust of Dr. Winters. She already has the job and is starting in two days. Agent Colson will of course be with you as part of protocol. You are to meet with Agent Cromwell on the Heli-carrier to go over the mission. That will be all.” After exciting the conference room Clint turned to Colson.

“So I’m babysitting. Why?”

“ _We’re_ babysitting” Colson corrected, “And because you are one of the best when it comes to things like this. While yes, you prefer the in and out approach, you have done jobs of infiltration. Undercover. You’re good at tricking people and getting what you want. So, we need you to help Cromwell do exactly that.”

“I’m sorry, but isn’t that your job?” Clint looked at Colson and frowned.

“Fury is giving you a chance and he doesn’t just do that out of the goodness of his heart. It means he sees something in you and I have to agree with him. And no not really. I’m operations, I don’t really do undercover, I do handling.” Well that was the end of that.

“Okay fine. Not that I don’t think women can do this sort of thing, because I’ve met some badass women before, but a nurse? Bedside manners not going to fly here.” Colson smiled while laughing lightly.

“Trust me when I tell you that Agent Cromwell is the best at what she does and it’s not because of her bedside manner.”


End file.
